Who’s Trying To Buy An Academy Award?

Just before the Academy Award nominations came out, I did a census of all the “For Your Consideration” advertisements that ran in the print editions of Variety magazine and The Hollywood Reporter. It’s always hard to assign a numerical value to the squishy idea of Oscar campaigning, but this census lets us estimate how much financial support various productions are getting when it comes to wooing the Academy.

While naked campaigning calms down considerably after the nominations are announced — no, seriously, it got so bad that rules had to be drawn up — Oscar nominees are still taking out loads of print ads in support of their bids. The leader since nominations were announced Jan. 24? “Arrival,” which, despite a snubby lockout in the acting categories, tied for the second-most overall nominations this year thanks to a deep bench in the techie prizes.

Looking at ad space purchased per nomination, “Kubo and the Two Strings,” nominated for best animated feature and best visual effects, and “Elle,” whose star Isabelle Huppert has a best actress nomination, are leagues ahead of the pack.

Here are the biggest print campaigners, ranked by total square inches of advertising bought in the two trades since the nominations:

NOMINATIONS

AD SPACE (SQ. INCHES)

SQ. INCHES/NOM.

Arrival

8

3,113

389

Manchester by the Sea

6

2,776

463

Kubo and the Two Strings

2

2,528

1,264

La La Land

14

2,307

165

Moonlight

8

1,442

180

Hidden Figures

3

1,436

479

Elle

1

1,208

1,208

Trolls

1

922

922

13th

1

705

705

Toni Erdmann

1

694

694

Fences

4

662

165

Hacksaw Ridge

6

537

90

Hell or High Water

4

532

133

La Femme et le TGV

1

526

526

Moana

2

470

235

Zootopia

1

470

470

Captain Fantastic

1

467

467

My Life as a Zucchini

1

407

407

Ad space in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter since nominations were announced